African Economies - They're Growing Fast, but Are They Transforming?

6 February 2014
African Center for Economic Transformation (Accra)
press release

Johannesburg — The 2014 African Transformation Report shares a roadmap

The African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), in partnership with the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), will launch ACET's 2014 African Transformation Report at an event in Johannesburg on March 3.

The good news about Africa's recent, rapid economic growth has been well documented. But to ensure that growth is sustainable and continues to improve the lives of many more Africans, countries now need to promote economic transformation. The premise of the 2014 African Transformation Report is that African economies need more than growth—if they are to transform, they need growth with DEPTH. That is, they need to Diversify their production, make their Exports competitive, increase the Productivity of farms, firms, and government offices, and upgrade the Technology they use throughout the economy—all to improve Human well-being.

In 2010, ACET began working with local think tanks to assess the transformation records and prospects of 15 Sub-Saharan countries (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia), which together make up more than 70% of Sub-Saharan Africa's GDP. The report draws on this three-year research program of country, sector, and thematic studies to offer analysis and lessons that can be tailored to African countries' endowments, constraints, and opportunities.

K.Y. Amoako, founder of ACET and former Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, says, “Promoting exports, developing skills, and getting the state and the private sector to work together to create broad prosperity for all are at the center of this report.”

Economic transformation is quickly becoming the consensus paradigm for Africa's development, and the United Nation's High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda has set out the priorities for transforming African economies to create jobs and stimulate inclusive growth. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union, and the African Development Bank have all centered their strategies on transformation. The 2014 African Transformation Report builds upon this momentum to bring transformation to the very front of Africa's advancement.

As part of the report, ACET will introduce the African Transformation Index, which ranks African countries on this new transformation paradigm and points out each country's achievements and gaps in key indicators of transformation.

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